This is in contrast to the substantial reductions in death rates and increased access to reproductive health care in those nations in recent years, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

In the study, published Aug. 13 in the journal PLoS Medicine, Ruby Singhrao and colleagues also outlined why cervical cancer screening and treatment should be included in efforts to improve women's reproductive health in low- and middle-income countries.

The researchers said that the burden of cervical cancer falls on women of reproductive age and that cervical cancer is associated with reduced reproductive capacity. They also noted that cervical cancer screening and treatment can be integrated into other health services and that recent evidence indicates that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination can protect girls from precancerous cervical lesions.

"For cervical cancer, we fortunately now have a wide range of feasible, affordable, and effective prevention options, which make dramatic global reductions in cervical cancer incidence a realistic goal in our lifetime," Singhrao's team concluded in a journal news release.